Chapter 101: Investigation
Chapter 101: Investigation
“What’s wrong? Are you feeling unwell?”
He Zhuzhu noticed Shen An’s unusual expression and asked curiously.
Shen An withdrew his gaze from the Zhicheng Pharmaceutical building across the street, the stinging sensation in his eyes gradually fading and returning to normal.
He shook his head. “I’m fine. Just now, a bug accidentally flew into my eye.”
He casually made up an excuse to dispel He Zhuzhu’s concern.
Though he wasn’t yet certain what Zhicheng Pharmaceutical was sneakily doing with those people, it was surely no good, and he didn’t want He Zhuzhu, a girl, to get involved.
Unexpectedly, upon hearing Shen An’s explanation, He Zhuzhu suddenly leaned in, her slender, fair hands gently cupping his cheeks.
Their faces were less than ten centimeters apart. Shen An could smell her breath and the faint, unique fragrance only girls possessed.
Even with his firm resolve, faced with such a beauty so close, Shen An found it hard to remain calm; his cheeks flushed, his heart pounding wildly.
“What is she doing? Does she want to kiss me?”
“This isn’t right, damn it, this would be my first kiss!”
“Well, I suppose I wouldn’t lose anything, so let her kiss me!”
Shen An had always liked He Zhuzhu. Seeing her face inching closer to his lips, he simply closed his eyes, waiting for her to kiss him.
His heart brimmed with delight and anticipation, and he nervously swallowed, longing for the beauty’s sweet kiss...
But then, He Zhuzhu stopped, looking at him strangely. “What are you doing? Open your eyes, or how can I blow the bug out?”
“What? So you only wanted to help me blow out the bug?”
Shen An was dumbfounded, feeling utterly embarrassed—it had all been just his wishful thinking.
He Zhuzhu gazed at Shen An, suddenly realizing his little thoughts, and burst out laughing. “You didn’t think I was going to kiss you, did you?”
“Ahem... Of course not.” Shen An turned his head aside and muttered, “Even if I did, I won’t admit it!”
He would never confess, or he’d be mortified!
He Zhuzhu giggled, covering her mouth, no longer pursuing the matter.
“Open your eyes. Which eye did the bug fly into? I’ll blow it out for you.”
“Uh... the left one.” Shen An, not wanting to give himself away, continued to make it up—there was never any bug in the first place.
Thankfully, the dim evening light kept He Zhuzhu from noticing anything amiss.
She cupped Shen An’s face and puffed her cheeks, gently blowing into his left eye.
The warm breath brushed Shen An’s face, tickling him and feeling like a soft cotton ball caressing him.
Though Shen An had dated in college, he’d never even held a girl’s hand. Now, with He Zhuzhu’s intimate gesture, he couldn’t help but be moved.
Had the light been brighter, He Zhuzhu would surely have noticed his face as red as a ripe apple.
He Zhuzhu blew for half a minute before stopping, almost out of breath.
“Did it come out?” she asked softly.
Shen An grinned mischievously. “It’s out... now.”
He Zhuzhu immediately realized how easily that phrase could be misinterpreted, and Shen An had definitely taken it the wrong way!
“Scoundrel...”
She pouted. “Hmph, I’m ignoring you now, I’m heading back.”
Shen An glanced at the time. They’d unknowingly spent over half an hour on the rooftop, where the wind was strong and lingering too long could be risky.
“I’ll walk you home.”
He Zhuzhu waved her hand. “No need, my place is close to the office, just a ten-minute walk.”
“Alright then, be careful.”
Shen An brought He Zhuzhu down from the rooftop and saw her off from the company.
Though they’d agreed he wouldn’t walk her home, the two chatted as they went, and Shen An ended up accompanying her to the entrance of her neighborhood, making sure she got home safely before heading back to the Future Group building.
It was nearly midnight; the office staff had long left, and the streets were nearly deserted, shrouded in darkness.
Yet the Zhicheng Pharmaceutical building across the street was brightly lit, with a team of security guards patrolling the entrance.
Shen An was deeply curious—what was Zhicheng Pharmaceutical up to behind the scenes?
He crouched outside their building for half an hour, during which a few people, dragging a vagrant from who knows where, brought him inside, and he never came out again.
Using his clairvoyant eye, Shen An discovered that the vagrant had been taken underground—a massive basement lay beneath the Zhicheng Pharmaceutical building!
However, he couldn’t see clearly inside; the basement was heavily guarded, its entrance reinforced with thick concrete and alloy, making it formidable.
He also sensed something mysterious within, something akin to a seal that rendered his clairvoyant eye useless.
At this moment, Shen An recalled an important message from his future self: Silver City had experienced a major incident—many ordinary people died, and countless others went missing.
Now it seemed likely that the missing people were the handiwork of Xu Tianming.
“What audacity—to pull such tricks right under my nose.”
No matter what Xu Tianming was plotting, Shen An would not let him succeed!
Late at night, the streets were nearly empty.
Shen An had been crouching in the shrubbery outside Zhicheng Pharmaceutical for hours, but still hadn’t found much; outwardly, the company appeared normal, with ordinary employees, except for the unusually vigilant security guards at the entrance.
“A pharmaceutical company needs over a dozen guards on night duty?”
The guards were highly alert, checking employee badges before allowing entry. Shen An tried several times to sneak inside, but failed each time.
With dawn approaching, Shen An felt disappointed, realizing he might not achieve much tonight.
Just as he was about to leave, a black van suddenly drove out of the company, and Shen An’s spirit soared.
“Finally!”
He immediately followed the van as it headed out of the city.
Fortunately, the van wasn’t fast, and Shen An managed to keep up, though it was exhausting—running thirty or forty kilometers at night at such speed would wear out even a marathon champion.
Luckily, Shen An wasn’t ordinary. The power of his internal energy helped him endure the physical strain.
Eventually, the black van stopped beside a foul drainage ditch in the suburbs.
The area was full of chemical plants, with tens of thousands of tons of wastewater dumped daily into the ditch. Chemical residues made the water unbearably stinky and pitch-black.
Few people approached the ditch—the stench was so strong it could be smelled half a kilometer away, making the place almost deserted.
At this point, two men got out of the van, opened the rear door, and hauled sacks into the ditch.
Seeing this, even Shen An would have to be a fool not to understand what they were doing.
Destroying evidence!
No need to guess—the sacks were filled with bodies.
Using his clairvoyant eye, Shen An observed the corpses inside. Each was emaciated, with sunken skin, but otherwise intact, showing no fatal wounds.
“They’re all dried corpses!”
A chill ran down Shen An’s spine. These bodies were like mummies, drained of all blood!